Starting a blog for the first time: taking the pins out of a new shirt

A friend of mine, let's call her O, is starting a new blog on being a new mom with her two sisters. With this new venture, the three sisters hope to share their stories and experiences as a way of supporting each others as well as any new moms or mom-to-be's out there. As a busy career mom of an adorable one-year-old boy, O is new to blogging and had asked me to help her set up her blog. We had a fun time on FaceTime yesterday, chatting about pregnancy, babies, and things she ran into using Blogger as a first-time user. I couldn't help but put my UX hat on. Here are the things I learned from our conversation from a UX lense.

What is ...

Blogging introduces plenty new concepts for a new user to digest. The exact meaning and implications of some of the terms aren't crystal clear to myself as someone who has blogged on and off for a number of years.  

What is a Domain?

The very first concept we talked about was Domain. O had the sense that a domain name is the name of her blog but wasn't sure why she would want to pay $12.99 a year for a domain name. I explained that the default domain name Blogger gives her contains the name "blogspot". For example, my blog is "jillcaohci.blogspot.com". For branding purposes, many bloggers choose to use their own domain names to avoid the "blogspot" stamp. One advantage is a shorter name and memorable name which helps readers to recall your blog.  

What are Meta tags?

She almost got me with this one thanks to my rusty memory of HMTL tags I infrequently use. I managed to sum up an explanations along the lines of search engines leveraging meta tags of a page to decide whether to display it when someone searches for something. I can't recall but wish there had been some explanations for how to use meta tags right when you're being asked to set them up. Many users are unfamiliar with HTML tags and why should they?

What's a Description?

Description was self-explanatory but O had an interesting question: Does it show up in a search engine result? As an experiment, we looked at a couple other pages that turned up on Google when we searched for "parenting". The snippet of text that went with each result appeared to be the first couple sentences of each page. Maybe the description will show up as the snippet when the blog is published. 

What is Permalink?

O wasn't sure what this was and what she'd use it for. There was an option to set up a "custom" Permalink for a blog post. She also wasn't sure why she'd need that. Again, some explanations as to what a Permalink is, when a blogger would need to use it, and why he/she might want to consider a "custom" Permalink would have been helpful. 

How do I ... 

How to get rid of the footer or can I?

O had set up the home page for her blog with a readily provided template prior to our convo. One thing she wasn't happy with was the huge, ugly footer that came with the template. We looked around but couldn't find a way to get rid of it. I came to the conclusion that Blogger meant to keep it there as it showed the blog was powered by Blogger. We decided to make it less in the face by shrinking the size of it or make it a paler color. 

How to allow her sisters to post a blog - under their names?

This blog is a collaboration between three sisters. Each lady needs access to the blog as an author. It's great to see Blogger supporting multiple authors. However, we were sure whether multiple author names was supported or not.  

Should I ...

Should I allow comments do I just need Contact Us？

I allow comments on my own blog. It's a great way to interact with readers. All readers can see the comment someone posted and what the blogger said in response, which provides soil for more discussions. 
Contact Us, on the other hand, is more private. It's just between the blogger and a reader. 

Cool stuff

Post through mobile SMS or email

O discovered these really cool features that I wasn't aware of before. For example, while away from their computers, users can write a blog in an SMS which will be saved as draft in their blogger account. They can also read up on new comments submitted by their readers on the email app in their phone and decided to approve or disapprove them when they are on the go.


Finally

It wasn't long before O had to go. She had to get her half-asleep boy ready for a passport photo. She had been holding her baby in one arm while talking on the phone and working at the computer the whole time! I'm so excited for O and her sisters for their new blog. Can't wait to see their blog online soon . Maybe it's also time to revamp my own blog!







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